Chandigarh: The Haryana government on Tuesday suspended four senior medical officers with immediate effect over alleged poor performance in implementing and monitoring measures aimed at improving the state’s declining sex ratio.
The action was ordered by Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Dr Sumita Misra, signalling the government’s tough stance against negligence in efforts to curb illegal sex determination, female foeticide and restore gender balance in the state.
According to the official order, the suspended officers are Dr Tina Anand, Senior Medical Officer at Community Health Centre (CHC) Purkhas in Sonipat, Dr Vijay Parmar, SMO at CHC Radaur in Yamunanagar, Dr Satpal, SMO at CHC Chiri in Rohtak, and Dr Prabha, Medical Officer at CHC Sehlang in Narnaul.
During the suspension period, the officers will remain attached to the offices of Civil Surgeons in Rohtak, Ambala, Jhajjar and Rewari, respectively.
The government has also initiated disciplinary proceedings against the officers under Rule 7 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 2016.
The order cited “poor performance and failure to ensure effective monitoring and implementation of measures relating to improvement of sex ratio” as the reason for the disciplinary action.
The crackdown comes amid growing concern over Haryana’s worsening sex ratio. The state recorded a sex ratio at birth (SRB) of 895 girls per 1,000 boys during the first four months of the year, a sharp decline from last year’s 925.
Among the worst-performing districts, Charkhi Dadri recorded the lowest ratio at 769 girls per 1,000 boys, followed by Ambala at 843, Mahendragarh at 847, Gurugram at 863 and Jind at 872.
Karnal emerged as the best-performing district with an SRB of 968 girls per 1,000 boys, followed by Faridabad and Kurukshetra at 932 each. Palwal recorded 924, while Nuh stood at 913.
With IANS inputs